Why it works: Salmon and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,675 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Boiling Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Thaw the frozen salmon in cold water for about an hour.
Soak the salmon in saltwater for 15 minutes.
Rub the inside of the salmon with vinegar and a pinch of salt.
Boil and simmer
Fill a fish kettle with enough water to cover the fish halfway and bring it to a boil.
Add the salmon to the boiling water.
Skim off any scum that rises, then cover the kettle and reduce the heat to simmer until the salmon is cooked through.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Salmon + vinegartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,675 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salmon
- The main protein; gentle simmering cooks it through while keeping the flesh moist and tender.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the fish and, in the saltwater soak, firms the flesh slightly.
- Vinegar
- Adds a mild acidity that brightens the flavour of the fish.
The step that matters
Simmer instead of boiling. Once the salmon goes in, a hard rolling boil can toughen and break up the delicate flesh. Keeping the water at a gentle simmer cooks it evenly and keeps it moist.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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